Thu, Mar 10, 2016

The Blue Dahlia

75 Years of Film Noir, Part 4: Prime Noir of the 1940s

(1946) dir George Marshall w/Alan Ladd, Veronica Lake, William Bendix, Howard Da Silva, Doris Dowling [98 min; 35mm]
A somewhat breezy tone and the unmistakable chemistry between stars Alan Ladd and Veronica Lake belie the darkness at the heart of this Raymond Chandler penned noir. Johnny Morrison (Ladd), a veteran, returns home from the war only to find his wife has been two-timing him and lying about the death of their son. They fight and Johnny leaves but the fickle hand of fate soon finds him accused of her murder and on the lam with a gorgeous blonde (Lake).